Short Interest in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Rises By 14.6%

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,850,000 shares, a growth of 14.6% from the November 30th total of 3,360,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,170,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Insight Folios Inc boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 3.0% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 0.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,600,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Clorox by 2.0% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.2% in the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Clorox by 17.2% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 510 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CLX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Clorox has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.38.

Clorox Trading Up 0.6 %

Clorox stock opened at $162.41 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.10 billion, a PE ratio of 56.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. Clorox has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 170.03%.

About Clorox

The Clorox Company manufactures and markets consumer and professional products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment offers cleaning products, such as laundry additives and home care products primarily under the Clorox, Clorox2, Scentiva, Pine-Sol, Liquid-Plumr, Tilex, and Formula 409 brands; professional cleaning and disinfecting products under the CloroxPro and Clorox Healthcare brands; professional food service products under the Hidden Valley brand; and vitamins, minerals and supplement products under the RenewLife, Natural Vitality, NeoCell, and Rainbow Light brands in the United States.